Love Me if You Dare
by Pureblood Princess-A
Summary: Hey, I updated for the first time in years! And now I'm totally devoted to this : belive me! SUM: Mini is a spoiled brat from uptown. Chris is a bad boy from the wrong side of the tracks. What happens when their paths cross?
1. Brand new year same old people

**1. Brand new year – same old people**

Mini Mackenzie was struggling to keep up with her sisters' fast walking as they were heading for school the first day after summer. She was practically running beside her, and in her mind she secretly envied her long Bambi legs.

"Would you slow down, Popeye!" she blurted out. "What's with the hurry anyways?"

Popeye turned her head to give Mini a look full of I-Know-Better-Than-You-Do, and slowly responded. "Incase you missed out, today's the first day of school. The time for meeting your friends and chatting about the way you spent your summer, who met the cutest guy, who has the nicest tan, you know. Important stuff, the kind you like."

"Oh yeah, can't wait," Mini muttered sarcastically. As a matter of fact, one of the reasons she didn't look forward to school was her friends. Back to the hallway of shallowness, she thought. They would be all over her like a leach, bragging about who spent their summer here and there doing God knows what, and she wasn't up for that at all right now. She actually never was.

"Besides," Popeye added with a little happy jump. "As from today, I can call myself a _senior_!"

Mini glanced at her all jealous again. Popeye was only a small step from graduation, which for her meant freedom. There was nothing Mini wanted as much as getting out of this town. She had not believed her ears when their oldest sister Hayden had decided to come back to Castle Rock after she spent three years away at Med School in Michigan. Her plan had always been living in a big town, so Mini had expected her to move to New York or something cool when she finished her studies. But her plans crashed as their father had had others. At the beginning of summer, not even three months ago, he ran off with his secretary. When Mini first heard the news, she thought it was a joke of some kind. It sounded just like the kind of thing that happens in the stories Popeye kept under her bed but kept on claiming she didn't read. His secretary, _really_?

But it wasn't a joke, Mr. Mackenzie ran off to London with his British girlfriend and left wife and daughters behind. It all happened so fast that no one really knew what to say or how to act, especially the Mackenzies' themselves. The whole damn town knew, but in lack of knowing what to say, they all kept quiet and pretended nothing had happened.

Mrs. Mackenzie practically had a breakdown. She spent the first month after the incident just lying in bed, watching soap operas and talking bad about Mr. Mackenzie with whoever happened to be around at the moment. After some time, she started getting out of bed in the morning. Slowly, she started to go back to her daily chores, with a bunch of help from her five daughters.

Thinking about her father made Mini confused. A part of her wanted to hate him for what he had done, but another part had already forgiven him reading all the letters and receiving all presents he had sent the girls since (At least the ones their mother hadn't found out about, those she herself sent back to him without a word).

"Hey, what's up with you? You look like you have all of the world's problems hanging from your shoulders," Popeye said, waking Mini out of her thoughts.

"What? No, I'm just not that eager on going back to school."

"Why? It's gonna be great! Okay, I'll admit the school itself not that great. Maybe I'm just all happy because I'm a _senior_!"

"Shut up, I don't wanna hear it anymore," Mini cried and tried to hit her on the arm, but her sister had managed to lure a little smile upon her face. "It just seems to useless. We go to school, we gossip with friends, we go home. Every day the same thing! It just never ends."

"Cheer up, will ya! You're spoiling my good mood. Come on, it's a brand new year."

Mini looked at her sister, with a dejected smile. "Yeah, but the same old people."

When they reached the school Mini prepared for a bunch of questions and chatter from people either kissing up or her friends demanding to know her every minute of the spent summer. She figured she'd just lie and say that she'd went to Europe and spent most of it there. She wondered what they would have to say of she told them she spent mostly of it at home, taking care of her wreck mother while she was still trying to accept what really had happened. She giggled at the thought of the looks on their faces when they slowly realized she actually had real feelings, but stopped when she realized it wasn't all that funny.

"Brace yourself," Popeye said as they entered the school entrance.

The first thing Mini heard was as expected a loud cry and before she knew it she had Suzie Cumber hanging from her arm looking up at her with pleading eyes. All of a sudden there was a big crowd in front of her, all speaking at the same time.

"Oh my God, Mini, you look so pale!"

"What did you do all summer?"

"I tried calling you! Oh my God!"

"What did you do? Where did you go? Seen any cute guys?"

Popeye was nowhere to be found. Mini figured she went away with some friends of hers. Seniors.

Well, love 'em or leave 'em, she though to herself and painted on a big smile.

"Oh you know, I spent my summer in Paris with my sisters…"


	2. Assembly

**2. Assembly**

Chris Chambers stood all by himself outside the Assembly Hall waiting for them to open up for all the students who were all busy catching up with each other on their summer vacation. Everyone was talking, yelling, laughing and nobody paid him any attention. Just as good, he thought to himself. The only time those people did pay any attention to him was when they were mocking him or whispering about him behind his back, and both those things hurt equally. It was better this way then, nobody caring about him for the moment.

"Chrissy!" a voice called from behind him. He turned around and saw one of his few friends Gordie Lachance grinning at him.

"Lachance!" Chris replied with a smirk. "You made it back alive."

"I sure did, I came pretty close on getting eating by an alligator at one point but you know me. I beat the living crap out of him and made his head a trophy… Now we've lost track. Anyway, guess what I found!

"Well, it sure as hell wasn't your comb this morning," Chris said with a glance at Gordies' hair.

"Shut up! I'm going to ignore you after I have said what I am so eager to say. Eager I tell you, eager as hell…"

"Will you get to your point some time soon or can I expect you to be all babbly for the upcoming few weeks now?"

"Okay, I'll give you a few hints. It's a person. Most likely on the female sex. A catholic, kind of screwed up in ways we'll never know why. Guaaaaaoch! Stop pinching me!"

"I'll pinch you all I want when you say all those evil things about me!" a new voice cried. "Hey Chris, how's life?"

"Can't complain," Chris said with a big grin. "I think you're really hurting Gordie there, Alexis."

"Ow ow ow, YES she is! I'm sorry! I won't talk about you that way EVER again, I promise!"

"Okay, I'll stop. Mainly because it's so pathetic seeing you cry, you pitiful little man."

"I'm not CRYING," Gordie protested and rubbed his hurt arm. "It's just that you have the fingertips of a sharp knife, you demonic excuse for a woman. Just think, only a few seconds ago I was actually excited about being able to see you every day. Now I can't imagine what that will be like, I'm sorry, but I will probably have to kill you one of these days."

"From my point of view, I think it will be the other way around," Chris said. "By the way, congratulations on joining in on our exciting world of high school!"

"Thank you!" Alexis said with a big smile and then glanced at Gordie. "See, Gordie? At least some people like having me around."

Alexis Owen was a bubbly, 15-year old girl with a big heart and always a smile on her face. For some reason she wasn't very popular among the other student, mainly because she didn't fit into any clique. She was only being herself, in the kind of clumsy but warm-hearted way she was. Because of the lack of friends in her own grade, she had sought herself to the other outcasts, and among them found Gordie. Since she and Gordie were practically neighbors, the natural step of taking it to friendship was easy, and with Gordie, Chris followed. So before Alexis knew it, she had two best friends. After spending a year all lonely in junior high with Chris and Gordie away at high school, she was now extremely excited and hoping things would go back to the way it used to be, with the three of them having lunch and sticking together every day.

"Ooh look! We can go in now," she suddenly said and started making a weird little dance. "Come on! Let's get good seats!"

"Oh yeah, wouldn't wanna miss this," Chris muttered to Gordie, who smiled at Alexis excitement. "You're gonna poke somebody's eye out if you keep that up," he warned her referring to her wavering arms.

Alexis wasn't listening but stopped doing it anyway. "Hey, I know those girls, I bet they're the cool group of people, right?"

Gordie and Chris followed the direction she pointed in, and caught sight of Popeye and Mini Mackenzie and all their crowd of popular people who seemed to follow their every step sitting in the back.

"Sure, the cool people," Chris said with contempt in his voice. "If you consider bitchy cheerleaders and their dumbass jock boyfriends cool, then yes."

"Well, the whole world already does, so why shouldn't I?" Alexis pointed out. "Consider them cool that is."

"Cool or not, those Mackenzie sisters sure are _hot_," Gordie said with a grin at Chris. He didn't return it, he was busy watching them as they were flicking their hair and talking loudly, and for reason that bugged the hell out of him. Who were they to come and consider themselves better than everyone else?

"I still think they're a bunch of bitches," Chris slowly replied. "For some reason, I have a hard time finding that hot."

"Especially Popeye," Gordie continued, not paying any attention to Chris. "I mean, Mini's got it all, I'll give you that, but Popeye, oh _man_!"

Chris smiled at this remark. Gordie had had a crush on Popeye since forever. Although he knew his place on the scale in high school coolness. Popeye Mackenzie was at the top of it, and Gordie wasn't stupid enough to think in a thousand years he would have any chance on her, but you could always dream, right?

Alexis wasn't as amused as Chris was. "If I wanted to hear guys talk about which girl is the biggest turn on I would have stayed at home listening to my brothers discussing French porn stars."

"That's the discussions at your house?" Gordie said. "I gotta visit you more often."

"_Anyway_," Alexis said, wanting to steer Gordie away from porn stars. "Is her name really Popeye? That sounds really made up."

"I think her real name is LeeAnn or Leanna or something like that," Chris said. "That's what the teachers usually call her."

"Leigh Anna!" Gordie said with shining eyes. "That's the woman of my dreams."

Chris and Alexis exchanged amused looks, but Gordie didn't notice. His thoughts were far away, all the way to the back of the Assembly Hall.

* * *

**AN: Reviews rock, so the more I get the faster I will probably update… ;) I hope you like the story so far!**


	3. Lunch Time

**3. Lunchtime**

Mini was dead sick of hearing Madison Lan gossiping about what had happened with all the important people at the school during the summer, so she desperately tried to find her sister in the crowded lunchroom, while trying to keep herself invisible to any possible member of her popular clique.

"Hey cutie, looking for me?" a voice suddenly popped up from behind her. She didn't even need to turn around to figure that voice belonged to Aaron Murray.

"Hmm that's nice. Just keep walking, Aaron," she said and started to leave as she had spotted Popeye sitting with some friends in the back.

"Oh baby, you're teasing me." Aaron didn't give up that easy. "Come on, one date."

Usually when they had this conversation Mini would think of a bitchy comeback to make Aaron retreat to his friends for now, but today she was too sick and tired to even bother.

"No," she replied.

"Why not? Come on, you know I'm good for it."

"Why? Because you're pathetic and embarrassing yourself over and over again with this. Would you just cut it off and leave me alone!" she snapped.

He opened his mouth not sure what to say. At last he muttered "Bitch," to himself and left.

She gave up a small sigh and continued walking towards Popeye when a voice suddenly called, "Hey, Mini! Here we are, come sit!" Of course. It was Madison with the crew.

"Ooh," Mini growled to herself but turned around while painting on a huge smile on her face. "Hi guys."

"Were you just talking to Aaron Murphy again?" Gina Aiken asked while giggling heavy. "How many times are you gonna turn that poor guy down?"

"And _why,_ for that matter," Madison added. "Aaron has got the hots for you since like... forever! And it's not like he's lacking in good looks."

"Maybe not, but he's got the personality of a lawn mover," Mini replied and decided to change the subject. "Maddy, can I catch a ride home with you later? Popeye decided that last week would be good timing for crashing her car, so we had to walk to school this morning."

"Sure hon! It'll be a great time for us to catch up on everything," Madison said and smiled widely and, as far as Mini was concerned, fake at her. Madison and Mini were considered best friends, now being to two most popular sophomore girls, but Mini didn't really like her. The only reason why she really hanged out with these girls was because she didn't have anybody else. In junior high, it had been so cool sitting with the popular crowd, but after years of experience with them she had learnt they were all a big bunch of stuck up brats who considered themselves better than everybody else. At times, Mini just felt like screaming out loud, but she felt the need to hang on. Who else could she be?

"Look at Eugene," Kayla Rossum suddenly giggled. "What's his dress code anyway?"

Everybody's heads turned and they watched a skinny, pale sophomore sitting at a table eating lunch while reading. He was wearing brown jeans, brown shirt, brown socks, brown shoes... Mini didn't like making fun of people but she did admit Eugene style of clothes wasn't the greatest. Also, he always seemed to carry around a big pile of books, much due to the fact that he took more courses than anyone else at the school.

"He looks like a big pile of crap," Madison said with an evil smirk. "Hey girls, watch this. EUGENE! Come over here a sec!"

Eugene looked up and stared all around him, as if he was trying to figure out were the voice calling for him came from. When he saw all the girls at Mini's table watching him he swallowed, and then look confused and unsure.

"Come over here," Madison said. "It's okay, we don't bite."

"OK," Eugene called back. He got up, looked a little lost about what we was going to do about his lunch, but ended up bringing it with the books to the girls' table. "What did you want, Madison?"

"What are you reading there, Eugene?" Madison asked, and snapped one of his books. "Advanced chemisty, wow."

"It's a new course I'm taking," Eugene murmured. "Can I have my book back? It's new and it was really exprensive..."

"Wow," Madison said again, flipping through the book. "Advanced stuff in here, I'll say."

"Yes I know, now can I..."

"Hey Ali, you gotta see this!" She threw the book carelessly as Alison Smith who was sitting across the table. "You got that right," she said. "Courtney, take a look!"

Mini could see in Eugene's face that he started panicking more and more, and decided she didn't wanna be a part of this. Nobody noticed her leaving, and the last thing she heard before she walked out the cafeteria was Madison screaming "Don't touch me you freak!". When she turned around one last time she saw Eugene standing next to Madison with tears in his eyes. Mini hurried away, she didn't want to see anymore if this. She felt lousy. She knew she could have stood up for Eugene but she didn't, she was too afraid. Her friends would never have forgiven her for that.

Chris watched the whole exchange from his place in the cafeteria. "Can you believe those girls?" he said contemptuously to Gordie and Alexis, who he was eating lunch with. "They're such bitches."

"Yeah, but what can you do?" Alexis said while making an attempt to steal Gordie's Jell-O.

"Don't even think about it," Gordie warned her and grabbed her arm.

"Fuck you," she replied.

"Poor guy," Chris muttered as he watched Eugene's walk away from the girls table.

"Ooh, does your mommy know you're using that kind of language?" Gordie teased Alexis. "Sorry Chris, you were saying?"

"Never mind," Chris replied and returned to his lunch.

Gordie watched him for awhile without saying anything. Chris had always been the toughest person he knew, but at the same time the most caring and best at comforting other people. Psychologically, it was probably because of his broken home and that he could relate to other peoples pain very well, and Gordie admired him very much for it. But sometimes he wondered if Chris cared a little bit too much about people. It was like he never seemed to care about himself anymore.

"He'll be fine," Gordie said. "But yeah, I'm with you, man, they _are_ a bunch of bitches."

"Never thought I'd hear you say that about your little girlfriend," Alexis commented, getting her hands on Gordie's Jell-O at last.

"Popeye's not eating lunch with them, she never is," Gordie said. "But her sister is."

"She's not there now anyway," Alexis replied, glancing over at their table.

"She left for some reason," Chris said and added sarcastically, "Probably needed more lip gloss."

"You know what?" Alexis said to Gordie. "I have a feeling Chris doesn't like these girls very much."

"Yeah? You think so?" Gordie laughed and took back his Jell-O. "No fucking kidding eh?"


	4. Confession Conversation

"Finally!" Mini shouted out to no one in particular and threw herself on the hallway couch. "I thought this day would never end." She closed her eyes and tried cutting the annoying voice of Madison out of her head.

"Okay, this is probably a dumb question to ask but here it goes... Hey Mini! How was your first day of school?"

Mini opened her eyes and glanced over at her older sister Marcy who was smiling widely at her.

"Crap," Mini mumbled as a reply.

"Yeah, everything is crap to you, right?" Marcy said sarcastically and sat down on the couch. "Teenagers and their little problems, I tell you…"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Mini said. "And by the way, who are you to talk? You're a teenager too, in case you forgot."

"And in case _you _forgot, dear little sister, _I _will be turning 20 in just a few months. That's a long way from 16, you know."

"I hate it when you do that," Mini muttered.

"Do what?"

"When you start acting all… you know! Grown up and mature. It's like you're 40 or something. Why can't you just be my 19-year old sister I need to talk to right now?"

Marcy just smiled.

It was true Marcy was trying to act much older than she really was, mainly because she took most of the responsibility around the house at the time of their mother's breakdown. Nobody had asked her to, but that was Marcy in a nutshell. Always putting other people first, and being the most helpful and friendly person one can imagine. When she graduated from high school earlier that year she had had big plans just like her older sister. With her grades and presence she could have applied to any college she wanted to, but things being the way they were, she decided to take at least one year of to spend time with her mom. For Mini, that had been good and bad news. Bad because now she wouldn't be able to get her hands on Marcy's big bathroom which she had counted on getting when Marcy was moving out, but good because now she didn't need to deal that much with their wreck mother.

"Alright, tell me then," Marcy said, eying her younger sister. "Why did you not love going back to school and all the evil teachers, boring lessons and tons of homework?"

"It's not like that." Mini said. "I don't care about the lessons or any of that. My problem is that all the people I love are at home, and I don't have anyone to share anything with at school."

"So what you're saying is," Marcy said while scratching her head. "That you don't love Popeye?"

Mini laughed. "That's not what I'm saying, but Popeye has all her friends at school…"

"So do you"

"The thing is, I don't. They're not real friends. They're just stupid and shallow, and I'm so sick of it!" Mini blurted.

"Alright, calm down," Marcy said. "Take a deep breath."

"Aww, what am I going to do, Marce? I can't stand hanging around with those people much longer, I'll go crazy."

"So, get to know new people! Get new friends to hand out with," Marcy said and smiled. "It'll work out."

"That's easy to say," Mini said with an unhappy laugh. "Nobody wants to be friends with me unless they're trying to get in to the popular crowd by kissing by ass. I've too mean to people."

"Believe me honey," Marcy said. "It'll work out."

She stood up and gave her sister a hug.

"I have to go out to do some grocery shopping. Will you be okay?"

"Yeah," Mini said. "I'll be fine."

"Great!" Marcy said with a wicked smile. "Then you wouldn't mind taking Cara out for a walk? I'm exhausted and nobody else is home."

Mini groaned, but pushed herself off the couch. "Yeah, why not? It will clear my brain."

"Yeah, besides," Marcy said. "It's time you start taking some more responsibility around here. So as for tonight, I have decided a few chores for you do to. For example…"

"All right, I'm going, I'm going!" Mini cried and rushed out of the room to get the family dog.

Cara, a two year old black and white Border Collie, was originally Mini's birthday present two years back from her father. But over the years she had grown on the whole family, and everybody loved her. From Mini's point of view she was the best dog in the world and although she didn't understand, Mini confided in Cara in a lot of matters she couldn't tell anyone else.

At the moment, they were walking down St. Francis Street and Mini was telling Cara about her day.

"And then Madison gave me a ride home, and not one second during that whole ride would she shut up. Honestly! It was all blah blah about her, and then some shit about me and Aaron what's-his-name. Like I could care less! I swear, sometimes I just want to…"

She stopped talking while she spotted two people she recognized, guys from her school. She didn't know them personally, in fact, they had never said more than two words to each other, but Castle Rock was a small town and everybody knew everybody. And their names were Chris Chambers and Gordie Lachance.

Mini didn't know very much about them except the Chambers guy was from a bad family and everyone had always advised Mini to stay away from those people, especially her so called friends, who Mini were sure would run in the other direction if they spotted a member of the Chambers family.

'But I'm not like that,' she tried to convince herself in her mind. Maybe this was also a good start to meet all the new people Marcy had been talking about. So she smiled nervously at them and said "Hi."

"Hey," Gordie replied and eyed her. "Were you just talking to your dog?"

Mini blushed and gave out a nervous laugh. "Umm, kind of, maybe?"

Cara, who was not at all happy with being held back, desperately tried to get to the strangers. When Mini wouldn't let her, she gave out an unhappy bark to get noticed.

"Well, he's cute alright," Gordie continued and bent down to pat her. "What's his name?"

"We should get going, Gordie," Chris suddenly said loudly, before Mini had a chance to answer.

"Okay," Gordie said, a bit surprised. "Bye then."

"Bye," Mini said. Chris didn't utter another word, but seemed to be in a hurry to leave. He obviously didn't want anything to do with her.

"That's how well it went for me to try to meet some new people, Care Bear," Mini muttered to Cara, who's tail wagged back and forward as she watched the boys disappear.

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**Sorry it took so long to update, but I've been away everywhere and haven't found the time. Hope you don't mind things moving a little slow, but I think we need to get to know Mini and her family before she starts getting all invovled with Christopher... Hope you like it so long!**


	5. Shortie Chapter

"What is _up_ with you, man? That was Popeye's sister!" Gordie shouted angrily as soon as he was sure Mini couldn't hear them anymore.

"Who cares?" Chris snapped. "It's pathetic the way you pine over that arrogant snob anyway. They're all the same!"

"You don't know her!" Gordie protested.

"Well, neither do you!"

"…and you just blew a great chance to a conversation with her sister." Gordie continued, pretending not to have heard what Chris said. "That's so uncool, man, I would never do that to you if you liked a girl…"

"Drop it, man", Chris said warningly.

"Look," Gordie said. "Just because you have this bad-ass attitude towards girls doesn't mean everybody does. I mean, they're not _all_ bad."

"I don't care! Gordie, I really don't want this conversation with you right now."

"Alright, fine," Gordie said. They both fell quite for a moment.

"Okay, sorry," Chris blurted. "I shouldn't have dragged you away like that, I know how much you like Popeye. It's just, I can't stand that Mini Mackenzie."

Gordie smiled.

"It's okay, man. I know you can't. I'll just figure out another way to get her attention, right?"

"Right," Chris said and laughed. "And for the record, I know all girls aren't bad."

"Exactly."

"I mean, Alexis is the sweetest kid around."

"What? No, I meant _real_ girls," Gordie said and shrugged. "She's like… I don't know, a guy. Who can be really annoying."

"Yeah well, I'll get a lookout for _real_ girls then," Chris said and laughed again.

**Sorry, short chapter. Another one is coming right up!**


	6. First Physics Class

Chris slammed his physics books on the desk and got seated on an old chair in pretty bad shape. It was the second day of school and the lessons had already started. But Chris didn't mind the lessons, or the fact that the most hated teacher in the entire school, chemistry teacher Mr. Spencer, had already given them a ton of homework. In fact, Chris was happy as long as he could stay away from home, even if it meant spending hours in the library looking up and calculating pointless chemical reactions to each other. Besides, in most of his classes he had Gordie by his side, the single one person Chris could never spend too much time with.

Sadly, Gordie didn't take physics this year, meaning Chris had to be alone in those classes. Alone with the nasty comments and whispers behind his back. But, Chris comforted himself, the jocks and cheerleaders who were mainly the people behind the evil talk were probably all too stupid to be taking advanced physics anyway. Hopefully the brainiacs would leave him alone. Chris knew he was being judgemental, but he couldn't help it.

However, Chris' hopes burst a few seconds later. He gave out a silent grunt when Mini Mackenzie walked into the room. She passed by him and got to a seat in the back of the room. Alone. Before Chris had time to think about why she would want to take a class without her usual tail of people the teacher, Mr. Clarkson, came through the door.

"Good afternoon, class," he said in a rather tired voice. "You all know physics by now, and that is the reason why you have chosen advanced physics for this year. It is not going to be like last year, it's nothing at all like beginners physics. This year you will be tested for the ultimate, you will have to work really hard to achieve your goals and I will _not_, I repeat, I will _not_ tolerate any goofing around in my class. Anyone who does not seem to take this seriously will be thrown out and can expect a phone call home..."

Chris wasn't listening anymore. He was watching Mini with great interest. She wasn't paying the teacher any attention either; she was drawing on her books with a distracted expression on her face. She looked incredibly sad. It suddenly occurred to Chris the stories he had heard about the Mackenzie family in the beginning of summer. Everybody knew about their fathers' sudden departure, and for a second Chris felt truly sorry for Mini. He could imagine how her life had been thrown upside down and the confusion and unhappiness she must feel. Then he shook his head and reminded himself that it was Mini Mackenzie he was thinking of. She was an evil bitch who didn't have any feelings at all, Chris thought bitterly. She was the one who had decided he was scum and not worth as much as a glance of attention since they were six. It wasn't _him_ who had decided to hate _her_; she had brought it all on herself.

As if she felt him eyeing her, she suddenly looked up from her scribbles and met his eyes. Chris quickly looked away and decided to start listening to Mr. Clarkson again.

"So the first thing we will do this semester is starting off with a great project I would like to call "The effect of light pollution". It will be a test on which of you that can handle the pressure and keep up with the speed within this class." A few students moaned, but Mr. Clarkson pretended not to notice. "You will observe and compare the different effects in various locations…"

Chris tried to hide a small yawn and glanced at his watch. This was really boring and the classroom was extremely hot. Mr. Clarkson lost his attention again as his minds wandered off to other things. He was thinking about what he was going to do after school, because he sure as hell didn't feel like going home, not until it was entirely necessary…

"You will be working in pairs," Mr. Clarkson said loudly, probably noticing how he started to lose the students attention. "And I will divide you into them."

There was a loud bunch of unhappy complains and protests, but Chris felt it was just as good. The teacher dividing them up would at least spare him from the shame of ending up without a partner.

"Why can't we just choose for ourselves?" a blond guy named Tom Darin said unhappily.

"Because I say so," Mr. Clarkson snapped. "Now, I have the decided list of names here. Once you hear your partner's name, you pair up and go sit next to each other. Now Tom Darin, you will be working with… Cole Paxton. Sara Green, your partner will be…Brian Carrey."

There was a loud sound of scraping chairs against the floor as people were moving around at the same time Mr. Clarkson was reeling of names from the list.

"Christopher Chambers, you will work with… Mini Mackenzie."

Thanks to the scraping sounds nobody could hear Chris loud groan. He turned around and glanced at Mini again, who looked surprised to have heard her name, as if she hadn't been listening at all.

'Great' Chris thought angrily as he dragged himself off to sit next to her. 'The following weeks will be hell.' He was so occupied in his dissatisfaction that he didn't even notice the jealous looks he received from the rest of the guys in the class. He sat down on the empty seat next to Mini, who made a nervous attempt to smile at him.

"Hey," he muttered.

"Hi," she said, not sure what to say next. "Um, so what are we suppose to do?"

"You weren't listening to Clarkson?" Chris said and raised his eyebrows, making Mini blush.

"No, I guess I was a little off," she mumbled. "Can't you explain it to me?"

"Nope," Chris said.

"Why not?"

"Because I weren't paying him any attention either." Chris said, for the first time with a little smile on his face, and Mini couldn't help smiling back. "I guess he'll just have to tell us about it again. Probably something difficult though… I sure as hell hope you know your physics, Mackenzie."

Mini wasn't prepared for that comment, but made a quick comeback. "I wouldn't worry about me, Chambers. I've been getting straight A's since junior high."

"I would never worry about you, I'm just not gonna do all the work on this…"

"If Mr. Chambers and Miss Mackenzie are finished," Mr. Clarkson suddenly said in a loud voice and an irritated glance their way, making them both fall silent in a second. "we can continue. As I was explaining before, the purpose of this whole project is to show me exactly where you stand in my subject, and you will be doing this my measuring and comparing…"

For the rest of the lesson, Chris was paying all his attention to Mr. Clarkson, though glancing over at Mini at times. For some reason it bugged the hell out of him that she had not been listening to their task. He figured she believed she could depend on anyone else to do the work for her. 'Well not this time' Chris thought to himself. No way was he gonna do all the work for this little spoiled brat.

When the class was finished Chris was in a hurry to get out of there. Right outside the door he bumped right into Gordie, who flew back and started laughing hard.

"What's with the hurry?" he said when he had stopped laughing.

"Nothing," Chris muttered. "Hey, you wanna do something this afternoon? We can like… just hang out somewhere, anywhere…" Chris suddenly realized he sounded kind of desperate, almost pleading. But right now he couldn't stand going home. Gordie looked at him with compassion.

"Sorry man," he said. "I told you, I have to go with my parents this afternoon, some stupid cousins fucking birthday…"

"Oh yeah," Chris said. "Yeah, that's okay. Hey, guess what?" he hastily said to change the subject. "You will never believe who I have to work with in our first big physics assignment!"

"Who?"

"Chris!" a somewhat angry voice shouted. "Will you wait up!"

"Oh crap," Chris said and to Gordies big amusement Mini came running towards them. She looked irritated and stared at Chris with accusation.

"What do you want, Mini?" he said, glaring down at her.

"How about a way we should start working on this thing?" she replied and glared back. "I don't care if you don't give a shit about your grades, but I sure as hell care about mine! Whether you like it or not, we have to work on this project _together_, meaning we _will _have to meet up and discuss it out of class if we want to that A! And I know I do."

"Wait a minute," Gordie suddenly said. "_You_ two are gonna work on a project? Together? The two of you?"

"Yes!" Mini snapped. "Do you have a problem with that or something?"

"No," Gordie said, while biting his lip to prevent himself from laughing.

"Look," Chris said, ignoring Gordie. "I am taking this seriously, okay? There's no need to get all worked up. If you just name a time, any time, I will start this thing with you, just quit that angry attitude."

"Fine," Mini said. "How about this afternoon?"

"Excuse me?"

"Let's start working on it this afternoon. Look," she continued when she saw Chris' sceptical expression. "We might as well start as soon as possible, if we want good results and get it finished in time. We only had a few weeks, right?"

"This afternoon?" Chris copied. "Now? That's a little short notice."

Mini raised her eyebrows. "I thought you just said any time is good? Or do you already have plans?"

"Well no, but…"

"Fine then, there's no problem."

Chris looked angry for a minute, and for a second Gordie thought he was gonna snap back at her. But then he gave out a small sigh and shrugged. "I guess that's okay."

"Oh please, spare me your enthusiasm," Mini said sarcastically. "We'll meet at three by my locker, okay?"

And without waiting for an answer, she turned around and left.

Gordie stared after her for a second then burst into hard laughter again.

"Not another word," Chris warned him as they walked away.


	7. A deja vu lunch

"You're doing what?!" Gordie said as soon as they saw Mini disappear around the corner.

"I'm going home with Mini Mackenzie after school," Chris said and let out another sigh. "We got stuck working on a chemistry assignment together and since you aren't there to take it with me, all I could do was sit back and take it."

"Don't try and blame this on me. I got an F in chem last year. Pullman would never even let me in the classroom!"

"Whatever. I'm stuck. There's nothing I can do."

"You sure you aren't enjoying this though?" Gordie said teasingly. "Just a teeny-weeny bit?"

"Um, no!" Chris exclaimed and shook his head. "What the hell for?"

"Oh come on! Half the guys in this school would kill to be in your shoes right now. I mean, you can't deny that Mini is hot as hell."

"Yeah, well, pretty on the outside maybe, but her personality is not all that beautiful."

"What do you know? You just assume things."

"Gordie, I know. I know her type, I know what her friends are like. I know exactly what she is worth. And now, I get to spend the next four weeks with her, more or less. Lucky me."

"I still think most guys would call you lucky without the sarcasm," Gordie said.

"Would you?" Chris asked him while eying him carefully.

"Of course!" Gordie said and after Chris' doubting looks, continued "I mean, what other great ways of getting contact with her older, way cooler sister?"

Chris just laughed and continued the walk towards the lunch room. He spotted Mini with some of her friends in the line a few feet away, and eyed her. She was acting just like a princess on her pedestal, as far as he could see, with her exaggerated giggling and letting some guy actually carry her tray for her. He acted stupid too, like a retard who ridiculated himself by following her like some slave. Chris still had his eyes on them as they sat down at the usual "cool people table", while the rest of their friends followed. She annoyed him like crazy.

"Chris? CHRIS?", he suddenly heard as he came back to it. Gordie stood in front of him, waving his hand before his eyes with an amused look on his face.

"What?", Chris said with an annoyed tone as he put a sandwich on his tray.

"Why are you checking out Mackenzie junior?" Gordie said while trying to hold back a smile. Chris looked at him with indignity. "I am not!"

"Yeah, sure you're not." Gordie rolled his eyes and took a sandwich too. "This is the point of view from how I see it: First, you cannot stop talking about Mini Mackenzie. Then you "_accidentally_" end up in the same project group as her. Then you can't stop staring at her and acting like some crazy stalker…"

"I am not a stalker!"

"Would you let me finish!" Gordie blurted. "Oh wait. I guess I was finished."

"Hey guys!", a new voice squeaked. Alexis showed up with sparkling eyes and a wide smile. "How's it going?"

Chris stopped himself as he was going to argue with Gordie, but smiled at Alexis instead. "Hey, Alexis. How's your first week of high school turning out?"

"Meh", she replied at they got to sit down at a table. "A lot like junior high actually, only with much more terrifying teachers."

"Yeah, that's high school for ya," Chris said and turned his eyes on Mini and her friends again. They had started picking on some freshmen girls. Seemed like they wanted them to hand them their desserts. Chris shook his head in disbelief when the freshmen actually did so. Not because they were scared, like Eugene had been the other day, but because they adored them. How someone could adore a person like Mini Mackenzie was beyond Chris. Alexis followed his eyes and looked back on him teasingly. "So what is this, a flashback from earlier in the week?"

"Huh?" Chris said, looking back at her.

"You are totally checking those girls out!" Alexis laughed and threw a napkin at him.

"Told you," Gordie said quickly.

Chris let out a sigh. "Fine. If that's what you believe, I don't really care. I'm just stunned and amazed on how evil those girls can really be. Seriously, it's like watching a bunch of devils. That's what's so fascinating. So can we please drop it now and please be more mature than that."

"Sorry Chris," Alexis muttered down at her chicken salad.

"Yeah, sorry man," Gordie agreed.

None of them saw Mini walk away from her friends before they stole any more desserts from the freshmen with her eyes firmly focused on Chris before she left.


End file.
